Today when the war started, again: a short story
by Writemaster33
Summary: The war has finished and it mostly peacful between the two countries, except for the occasional kidnapping.


This is a fan story. The original characters mention belong to John Marsden.

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It's only been half an hour since someone, Robyn I think, said that we should write everything down. It's been twenty-nine minutes since I got chosen. I'm not going to hold back though. The others know that I won't. Writing this though. It's so important to us. To all of us. I guess it's our way of telling ourselves that we really matter in this world. That we'd made a difference, minus the friends that we'd lost along the way. I still remember reading those words, it was years ago but those words still come through. Ellie Linton and her friends became famous after the war. They had decided to go camping for a couple of days before, when they returned home they found out that their country had been invaded. Not being able to sit back and do nothing, they fought back against the invaders. They blew up the Wirrawee Bridge, cobbler's bay and the command houses to some of the enemy officers. Right now she inspires me, it's the only way I'm able to maintain my sanity in this dank and dark place. I remember when I was captured. Ever since the war finished the land had been divided up between the invaders and us. Now they had a fence running along the border between the two countries, if you could call them that. I'd been rounding up a couple of sheep that got away from our farm and I strayed too close to their side, straight away I was bound and gagged. I'd been thrown into the back of a Ute I think and driven who knows where.

My name is Warren Kline and I'm eighteen. Before I get into the main events I'd better say why I'm doing this. The first reason is because Ellie did this as a way of keeping sane during the war, I'm doing this to keep myself busy, the second reason is it can keep my mind off the fact that I could be shot at any moment. Now I will tell you about the three other's that were captives with me. Jenny sanders, she was captured a day after I was already here, and she's sixteen. Henry Jacobson, he was here two days later, only seventeen. He said his birthday was in two days, and a lot of fun to have around. Lucy Rinehart, she's my age and one of the loveliest people that I've ever met.

I think it was a Tuesday but I'm not sure, I woke up and could hear the two soldiers that stood guard outside the door of the little tin shed we were cooped up in. shortly after, they switched with two other guards for the day shift. So far it was a regular day, Henry had just woken up and Lucy was beginning to stir.

'Good sleep?' asked Henry. 'Oh, yeah' I said as I did up my boots. This of course was a joke we had because you could barely sleep with the jeeps and soldiers going past at all times of the night.

I got up and made the tiny camp bed I had to sleep on, I then had to go to the loo. Fortunately we didn't need to use a bucket, we were to knock on the door and wait for the soldiers to take us. I walked over to the door and knocked, I accidentally woke up Jenny. I waited while I heard the guy unlock the padlock and then slide the bolt, the door opened. Light shone through the shed and I had to wait for my eyes to adjust. The soldiers knew what I wanted, no need to speak because there was only one reason why I should be knocking on the door. The two soldiers wore foreign uniforms; symbols ran along the arms of the uniform. I waited until one of them; the shorter one of the two grabbed me and pushed me towards the port-a-potty that was squished in between two small buildings. He shoved me towards the door. This was as far as I was allowed to go; the area was mostly little building that you see at construction sites. I opened the door and stepped in, locking it. I lifted up the lid and I was shocked to find a plastic bag taped there. I grabbed it quickly and opened it. Inside were a letter and a screwdriver. I unfolded the letter.

_ You need to hurry, escape and find a weapon to defend yourself_

_ The screwdriver should help. G: E_

I had to read it twice before I could get what it was saying. I grabbed the screwdriver from the bag and then looked around the port-a-potty; I noticed there were screws holding it together. I reached up to undo the screws on the back wall. It wasn't long after that the guns started firing. I had started on the second screw when I heard a volley of machine gun fire. The third screw came loose and I shoved at the wall as hard as I could until the wall snapped in half and I fell over the toilet and out the back. I got up and realised I had nowhere to go; the other end of the small alley was blocked by huge wooden crates. I rushed up to them, hoping I could climb over them. They were too big to even think about doing that. I checked the crates; all over them were stickers in other languages. None I could read, but dangerous looked the same in any language. I took the screwdriver and jammed it into a gap in the crate and used it as a lever to pry it open. The wood broke away easily and out poured a pile of guns. I remembered the note said to arm myself so I grabbed a pistol and rifle then ran back to the toilet. I jumped through the hole with the pistol in my hand and rifle on my back. I knew how to use the rifle as my father has one on the farm, the pistol was pretty basic. I checked the magazine and turned the safety off. I unlocked the door to the toilet and opened it slightly, the guard had gone and I was alone. I rushed back to the shed I had come from. The guard had gone from guarding my friends; in fact there wasn't a guard to be seen. I could hear shouting and gunfire a fair way away; I looked around just in case. I tried the lock but there was no key, I stepped back and took aim at the padlock. I fired. The lock broke easily and I wretched open the door.

'What in the name of Frank are you doing' shouted Jenny when she saw me standing there; gun in hand.

'Come on' I said and tossed the rifle to Henry.

Henry jumped up and cocked the rifle. Lucy and Jenny got up and followed him out the door.

'What's going on?' henry asked me.

'Yeah, we heard shots' said Lucy.

'Not entirely sure, the soldiers are busy so let's get out of here' I replied and took off for the nearest building. I looked around the corner and saw some soldiers running towards the sounds of fighting. I took off after them, staying out of sight. Like Ellie Linton I knew some things about living on a farm. One of those things was not to come up behind someone who was holding a gun, I did that to my father when I was younger and he let off a shot. So I decided to treat these soldiers with caution and stayed back to follow quietly, I needed to know what was happening before we got out of there. They turned a corner and disappeared. I told the others to wait and I followed them to the corner, I looked around the side. It was an all-out gunfight. I didn't recognise who the attackers were but they were winning. I can't believe how many soldiers was already cowering or surrendering. There was a lot of blood everywhere but from what I could see, everyone was still standing. I backed up and almost screamed, because the others had followed me to get a closer look and I didn't hear them come up behind me.

'Sorry, what's the plan?' said Henry when he realised he scared the crap out of me.

'Why are you asking me?' I said.

'Let's see' said Lucy and she held up a fist.

'1. You rescued us from the shed, 2. You seem to know what you're doing.3. And somehow have found guns and managed to not get caught, I say that officially puts you in charge' she said as she held up a finger for each fact.

'Okay' I said and I led them back the way we came, I turned the corner. I planned to hijack a jeep I had seen earlier on my way to the loo, unfortunately I ran straight smack into a soldier. He had been coming around the corner the same time we did. He reached for his gun but I was quicker, I swung my fist upwards and hit him square in the jaw. He stumbled back and fell to the ground. Henry went to check him.

'Wow, you knocked him out in one punch' he said in surprise. I had read in boxing that that happens a lot; I couldn't believe I did that.

I ignored the unconscious soldier and kept going; I ran back to the shed and told the others to grab anything that they left. We didn't have much; everything got taken of us when we were caught. All I had was a tiny magnifying glass, I don't know how but Jenny managed to keep hold of a comb. We got what was ours and then I headed straight to the jeep, parked next to a dirt road that I was pretty sure we had come in on. I checked the ignition and was happy to see a pair of keys sitting there.

'Get in' I told them and I started it up.

I put it into gear.

'You can drive this right?' asked Lucy.

'Nope' I said and floored it.

I had never driven a manual but I had driven a tractor a heap of times, to me it was pretty much the same. I did alright, only made the car stop and make that groaning noise once when I accidentally changed gears. I thought we were home free until I heard the roar of an engine behind us. I looked back to see another jeep was gaining. A soldier stuck his head out the window holding a gun, he took aim and fired. I swerved on instinct and the shot hit the right mirror.

I put on more speed and told the girls to get down; Henry grabbed the rifle and took aim. He missed. The soldier fired another shot and I heard the pang as it hit the back of our jeep. I almost let go of the wheel in shock. I had never been shot at before and it was a terrible experience, one I didn't want repeated too much. I looked back and the driver had his arm out the window and then I realised he was holding a pistol. I kept swerving all over the road, trying to make us harder to hit. Henry took another couple of shots and I heard the front window of their car shatter.

'Nice one' I said.

I heard the girls scream when another bullet hit the car, Henry fired a returning shot. I was afraid that I wasn't going to lose them, I didn't think swerving was helping all that much. I then remembered the pistol I had and grabbed it; I aimed it over my shoulder at the jeep and fired. It was hard to fire while steering but I heard one of the shots as it hit the bonnet, they didn't stop though. I was about to shoot again when Lucy snatched the gun from me and tried herself. She managed to hit the front of their car as well but she ducked when the soldier stuck his gun back out the window. I thought they were going to catch us pretty soon; they were gaining on us really fast. Henry took aim again and I heard a kind of bang and pop, he had shot one of the front tires.

'Yes' he shouted.

I looked back and saw the driver lose control as the car swerved left and right, the car then turned and ran straight into a tree. I expected to see them fly through the front but they must have been wearing seatbelts. I kept driving, the girls were sitting up and they were crying with happiness that we escaped.

I was ready to hop up and do the jig; which was kind of hard when I was driving. We were free and I was looking forward to seeing my parents, getting back to school and eating a decent meal. All we got was stale bread and pieces of chicken, not exactly a five star hotel. I was unsure where exactly I was but I soon found out. We came out onto a road with very little cars, a station wagon went past and that was all. I pulled over to next to a sign up the road a little, it wasn't in English but Wirrawee looked nearly the same in any language. The sign said three miles in the direction we were heading; I got back into the car. I went to start the engine when I heard the sound of another car, a few in fact. I spun around in my seat to see about five cars coming straight for us, I started the car. I put it in gear and hit the gas, henry already getting ready with the gun. He was taking aim when one of the cars sped up to my side of the jeep. A woman had her head out the window, a pistol aimed at me.

'Pull over' she shouted in English. I knew I couldn't go anywhere and there was no chance of fighting so I pulled over. Soon we were surrounded by soldiers all with grins and slightly annoyed looks on their faces. I soon realised these were the soldiers that attacked the people that held us captive. They all looked tired and blood stained their clothes.

'Hi' said the woman 'I'm General Elaine Terrance of the New Zealand Army'. I sighed in relief; we were trying to get away from people from our own side.

'You know I only told you to arm yourself' General Terrance said. 'We came to rescue you but you seemed to be managing fine on your own' and she laughed. All the soldiers either chuckled or laughed.

I couldn't believe we just ran away from our own rescue; pretty soon the four of us were laughing too.


End file.
